18 Months in the Adriatic: Week 20

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Week 20 - Kosovo

New mission home mailing address:

Adriatic South Mission
P.O. Box 2984
Bulevardi "Gjergj Fishta"
Qendra "ALPAS", Shkalla NR. 5,
Apartamenti NR.14
Tirana 00355, Albania

these are my new friends!!!!! ah they're awesome.

they were our progressing investigators but we asked for permission notes from their parents to take Libri i Mormonits home but they aren't allowed to so they've been reading FTSOY pamph and they LOVE it #plantinseeds

Motra Dejves and I (tried..) made PEANUT BUTTER (and ate maybe 20 bananas between the two of us oops?) yum

hahah & snapped some pics of course

hey fam, first of all: gezuar dite e shenjt patrikes! make sure to wear plenty of green tomorrow and I will make sure to represent our Irish blood over here.

This past week was another great week here in Prishtine, Kosove. Sometimes, walking around the city to an appointment for example, I just stop and look around and can't believe that I get to serve here... especially now that the weather's nicer, and the work's picking up, and I've gotten the hang of ghegnisht, and Nene Z just gets funnier every day ;)... I love it here!

This past week I had an exchange with Sister Davis from Gjakova (STL), it was super fun and we managed to fit in a lot of lessons that day. A highlight by far was our lesson with 4 very Muslim girls (our age)... Motra Z had met them street contacting the night before (while I was discussing Islam auf Deutsch with a potential referral) and I guess they had seen us out on the street pretty often so they had been wanting to meet with us and discuss. Wow that lesson with them was such a neat experience. They are college students and they'd spent time in Turkey studying Arabic and Islam... we discussed Christ and his Atonement (not as in-depth as I would've liked to, though.. next time!) and talked about Old Testament prophets/ stories (common ground) and resurrection/ life after death/ returning to live with God if we live obediently now... and really we just jumped around asking and answering questions about beliefs but it was very respectful, and they were so cute, they kept reminding us that all Muslims are NOT terrorists. They showed us their Qu'rans and promised to bring us our own English or Albanian copies since we don't speak Arabic. And one of the girls sang some verses for us, it was awesome. They asked if they could take Books of Mormon to study and read which we eagerly handed over, and I encouraged them to start with 2 Nefi Kapitulli 2 since their version of The Fall is a little different.

We've still been having lots of English classes, and they are going well! Great way to get people in church and find new investigators, plus it's free service so win-win! Also I really love teaching.

We had a big party on Saturday with members and investigators from all over Kosova! Peja and Gjakova. There was a huge turnout and lots of Albanian carbs and traditional dancing, and a spiritual thought and a prayer. :)

Oh we rearranged our apt. which is fun and I love it, and I'm sad that Nene Z is probz leaving me in a couple weeks BUT, we have plenty of time to party it up (=work and teach and serve) until then! Oh and thanks for whoever has ever sent me mail because really, whenever someone comes up from Tirana and brings letters it's like Christmas and I can't stop smiling all day.

JU DUA SHUME, shpresoj se kete jave do jete shume e bukur per juve elle fostoni shume ne 17. mars!!

<3 me dashuni te madhe, motra raj :)

(two of our English student girls/investigators call us motra raj and motra zed b/c it's easier)

found a little store that has such good dried fruit and nuts and fresh fruit YUM (check out my cute new notebooks in the background btw! we love this cool art shop near the church and Nene Z's an artist so we like to swing by at lunch when we can)

and Elder Tempull had a bday this week too (22! xhushji of the mish)

party! Gjakove members <3

one of our little English girls brought her little bros and cousins to our fest yay

partyy!

these girls are from peja and are in-love with an elder and def. not members but they're super sweet!

this is E, an English student/kerkuese and a little sweetie! /

and this is Karyn B, she's awesome, they're such a cool & cute family

thought greek salads sounded nice until we noticed two big lettuce leaves missing from the raw meat display in the window when our food was brought to us...